Barbara Leitner, (nee Basia Wilczyk) longtime resident of Vineland, NJ, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 90 on December 30, 2015. In her retirement, she lived for 18 years in Palm Springs, 7 years in Los Angeles and her last year in Oakland, CA. Barbara was a holocaust survivor who along with her husband Harry, also a survivor to whom she was married - until his death 19 years ago - just shy of 50 years, built a fulfilling life and left an enduring legacy through their children and grandchildren. Born in Chmielnik, Poland, she endured forced labor in a ghetto and munitions factory, followed by torture and starvation in concentration camps in Poland and Germany. Her father, mother and sister were killed by the Nazis before she was 15. At age 21, after being liberated nearly dead from typhus, Barbara started a new life. She met Harry in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany. They reconnected after she immigrated to Canada, by a chance meeting on the street. They decided to marry and she moved with him to the United States - first to Brooklyn and then to Vineland. There, Barbara was instrumental in helping Harry with the "business" part of building a very successful roofing business, and raising their daughters. In their retirement they finally got to enjoy traveling around the country and the world.
Wanting to not be forever a foreigner, she kept up on politics, culture, fashion and trends, ensuring their children would be "Americans." In Vineland, she volunteered at The Little Theater, as well as with the mental health association, driving children who had no rides to their appointments and chairing fundraisers. Her interest in art and antiques, combined with her flair for style and fashion and mostly for being a hostess led her to work on the hosting committee of the Palm Springs Film Festival and The Palm Springs Art Museum.
Barbara was a good friend to everyone she knew and will be remembered by all who knew her as irreverent, provocative, elegant, determined and generous to a fault. Barbara survived the most horrible to allow for the most beautiful. She is survived by her daughter, Elaine Leitner and her husband Steve Zieff of Oakland, her daughter Leslie Leitner of Los Angeles, and her 3 grandchildren, Ariel Leitner-Zieff, Jake Leitner-Zieff and Marshall Hanig. She was predeceased by her husband, Harry Leitner, and her son-in-law Josh Hanig, husband of Leslie.
Donations in Barbara's honor may be made to Jewish World Watch, the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum or to the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Barbara will be interned next to Harry at Desert Memorial Park in Palm Desert, CA.